Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Book Recommendation for Families Struggling with Executive Function

We've been re-reading a terrific resource for parents of children who struggle with executive function difficulties. As we noted in this blog on February 26, 2010, "executive function is a complex symphony of brain activities responsible for the “project management” parts of school and life." Understanding the origins of these difficulties, recognizing when they occur together with learning differences, attention problems, or other disorders, and figuring out how to handle the problems they create for students and their families are all discussed in the very readable bookLate, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents' Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning.

Written by two Maryland based clinical psychologists, Joyce Cooper-Hahn and Laurie Dietzel, the book offers specific strategies for situations that families will encounter in day-to-day life, including such difficulties getting started with homework, helping children who interrupt so they won't forget what they want to say, and what to do when your child arrives at sports practice late or unprepared.

We believe in the importance of strategies to address specific learning and behavioral difficulties and the focus on these strategies, broken down into manageable steps, is particularly helpful. Whether you read this cover to cover, or pick and choose among the issues discussed and strategies recommended, we believe this book can be a useful tool for parents dealing with their child's executive function difficulties.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About The Yellin Center

The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education is an independent educational evaluation and student care practice dedicated to helping all learners experience genuine success in school and in life. The Yellin Center is affiliated with the New York University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics.

Services provided at The Yellin Center include comprehensive, independent educational evaluations, consultation, advocacy and transition support, educational therapy, academic coaching, psycho-educational evaluation, referral services, parenting support, professional development and more. We work with students from Pre-K through Post-Secondary and early professional levels, including law and medical students and adults. For more information about The Yellin Center or any of our programs, please call us at 646-775-6646 or send an email.